Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Jan. 26, 2021

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Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen, Brian W. Everstine and John A. Tirpak

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Biden Reverses Ban on Transgender Individuals Serving in the Military
By Brian W. Everstine

President Joe Biden on Jan. 25 reversed the ban on transgender individuals
serving in the military, opening the door to thousands barred from service and
correcting the service record of anyone affected by the ban. The executive
order, announced before Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III’s swearing-in
ceremony at the White House, reverses an order from former President Donald J.
Trump that cited “tremendous medical costs and disruption” from transgender
individuals serving in uniform. The order reverts to the Pentagon’s prior
position of allowing transgender people into the military, enabling DOD to
recruit and retain “those who can best accomplish the mission.” “President
Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, and
America’s strength is found in its diversity,” the White House said in a
statement.

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Brown on Capitol Riot: ‘I Struggled on That Day’
By Rachel S. Cohen

On Jan. 6, as a throng of supporters of former President Donald J. Trump and
right-wing extremists mobbed the U.S. Capitol, the Air Force Chief of Staff
couldn’t tear himself away from the television. Brown, teleworking away from
the Pentagon, said he watched in shock and disbelief as events unfolded that
killed five people and sent hundreds of lawmakers, staffers, and journalists
running for cover. “I was very disappointed, and it hurt,” he said in a live
conversation with The Washington Post on Jan. 25. “I struggled on that day to
understand what was going on and where we were going to go as a nation.”

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About 5,000 Guard Troops to Stay in D.C. Through Mid-March
By Brian W. Everstine

Approximately 5,000 National Guard troops will remain on the streets of
Washington, D.C., with most protecting the U.S. Capitol for almost two more
months, in response to requests from federal agencies and local police who
anticipate additional unrest. As of Jan. 25, there were about 13,000 Guard
personnel still in the District, down from the more than 25,000 protecting the
Jan. 20 inauguration of President Joe Biden after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the
Capitol. The U.S. Park Police, U.S. Secret Service, Capitol Police Department,
and Washington, D.C., Metro Police Department all made requests for National
Guard help in the coming weeks, and those requests have been approved, Acting
Army Secretary John E. Whitley told reporters in a Jan. 25 briefing.

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Austin Ceremonially Sworn in at the White House
By Brian W. Everstine

Vice President Kamala Harris on Jan. 25 ceremonially swore in new Defense
Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III at the White House, days after he started the job
and has already announced multiple changes to the Defense Department.
“Secretary Austin’s integrity, experience, and intimate knowledge of the
issues facing our military make him the right leader for this moment,” Harris
said in a Twitter statement. Austin was already sworn in administratively on
Jan. 22 at the Pentagon, and had served in the role for about three days before
the White House ceremony.

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All Three USAF Bomber Types to Fly Over Super Bowl
By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force will fly all three of its bomber types—a B-1B, B-2A, and
B-52H—over Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 7, the service announced. The
mission marks the first time the three bomber types have flown formation over
such an event, and is meant to showcase the bomber fleet's reliability, timing,
and ability to rendezvous from several directions at once. Aircraft from
Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., and Minot Air
Force Base, N.D., will participate.

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30 Years After Desert Storm: Jan. 26

In commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, Air Force
Magazine is posting daily recollections from the six-week war, which expelled
Iraq from occupied Kuwait.

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Radar Sweep

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Snapshot: DOD and COVID-19

Here's a look at how the Defense Department is being impacted by and responding
to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Why Was The U.S. Air Force B-21 First Flight Delayed?

For the B-21, the Air Force would like to move faster. So it was always curious
that the Air Force’s original first-flight date for the B-21 was set more than
six years after contract award. And the schedule delay to mid-2022, as reported
first by Air Force Magazine, puts the start of flight testing nearly seven years
after Northrop Grumman won the Long-Range Strike-Bomber competition. So what
gives? On Jan. 19, the day before Will Roper resigned as assistant secretary of
the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, he spoke to Aviation
Week and explained some of the mystery over the length of the interval between
contract award and first flight of the B-21.

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Five Takeaways from the Developing Space War Between China and the US

The stars of the new space age include not only famous entrepreneurs but a
rising generation of dreamers and doers. Small companies, developing states and
even high schools now loft spacecraft into orbit. But Beijing is intent on
dominating the democratized space age. It is building ground-based lasers that
can zap spacecraft and rehearsing cyberattacks meant to sever the Pentagon from
its orbital fleets. Seven years ago, Washington seized on a new strategy for
strengthening the U.S. military’s hand in a potential space war. The plan
evolved during the Obama and Trump administrations and, it is expected to
intensify under President Joe Biden.

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OPINION: Rethinking the Air Expeditionary Wing

“As DFE [dynamic force employment] becomes the preferred engagement option,
shouldn’t it also inspire an evolution in our existing AEW [air expeditionary
wing] deployment model? AEWs of the future, which may resemble AEWs of the past,
need to become more agile, adaptable, and perhaps be deployed episodically.
Remember the importance of operational unpredictability? Our adversaries do. The
Air Force Chief of Staff continues to challenge Airmen to ‘accelerate change
or lose.’ The Chief’s mandate certainly applies to how we generate combat
airpower and deploy the force. Consequently, rethinking how we deploy AEWs
should also be on the table. I’m confident there’s a better model for AEWs
in the minds of our young Airmen, one that balances readiness with the
increasing demands of great power competition. Making that model a reality will
help secure our future,” writes Brig. Gen. Larry R. Broadwell, commander of
the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates.

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For Wars of the Future, Pentagon Looks to Distant Past: the B-52

A strategy shift focused on China and Russia—and stumbles in developing newer
bombers—persuade Air Force to put new electronics in an old plane and make it
last until 2050

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SPONSORED—VIDEO: 4 Principles of Agile JADC2 Development

Innovation has always been a hallmark of the U.S. Air Force. But with the
accelerating pace of technology development, the service needs a new approach to
modern design to make the latest technologies profoundly more accessible.

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Saudis Expanding US Military Access to Airfields, Port, to Counter Iran

The year-old initiative is intended to give CENTCOM “more options” in a
fight, general reveals.

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Israelis Say They’ll Attack Iran If US Eases Sanctions

Israel has said openly that it will attack Iran if the U.S eases sanctions
against the Shiite regime and agrees to go back to the nuclear agreement the
Jewish state claims is “the biggest hoax in recent history.” “Israel needs
to know — and fast — whether Washington plans to stop Iran’s race to the
bomb or take some action to do this,” a source told BD.

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To Defeat Enemy Drone Swarms, Troops May Have to Take a Back Seat to Machines, General Says

The Army's top modernization official said Monday that the Pentagon may have to
relax its rules on human control over artificial intelligent combat systems to
defeat swarms of enemy drones that often move too fast for soldiers to track.
All branches of the U.S. military have expressed interest in using artificial
intelligence, or AI, for faster target recognition; however, the Defense
Department until now has stressed that humans, not machines, will always make
the decision to fire deadly weapons.

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SpaceX Just Broke a World Record

On Jan. 24 at 10:01 a.m. EST, SpaceX launched another 10 Starlink satellites
into orbit, making the company's globe-spanning "internet broadband from space"
satellite constellation the largest one in orbit by a factor of five. And that's
the least significant bit of today's news. Adding Starlink satellites to orbit,
you see, was only a small part of Sunday's mission. The larger part was reducing
the cost of putting satellites in space—dramatically—with the first
successful demonstration of SpaceX's Smallsat Rideshare Program ... and setting
a new record for most satellites put in orbit by a single rocket.

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How Will Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Respond to International Challenges?

Retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for
Aerospace Power, provides insight on what Austin can expect as he begins in his
post.

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One More Thing...
‘An Over-Patterned Couch‘—Airmen Can’t Wait to Say Goodbye Forever to Their Tiger Stripe ABUs

In a few short months, the Air Force will say goodbye to one of its stranger
fashion choices: the tiger stripe-patterned Airman Battle Uniform (ABU), which
was the branch’s official uniform from 2011 to 2018. From its grey-blue
stripes to its stiff material and baggy look, there was a lot not to like about
the ABUs, and many airmen celebrated their branch’s decision to switch over to
the woodsy Operational Camouflage Pattern uniform in 2018. Still, as the last
day of the ABU approaches on March 31, one airman, Master Sgt. Mike Smith of the
I.G. Brown Training and Education Center, Tenn., took the time to ask his peers
for their memories of the uniform, both good and bad. The results are pretty
great.

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